08/09/06: Mental As Anything?
"Half the game is mental; the other half is being mental."Jim McKenny

08/07/06: Time Travel The Hockey Way
"You're playing worse every day and right now you're playing like the middle of next week."Herb Brooks

08/05/06: Broad Street Bullies Complete Game Plan
"We take the shortest route to the puck and arrive in ill humor."Bobby Clarke

08/03/06: Playing Golf and Cursing
"All hockey players are bilingual. They know English and profanity."Gordie Howe

07/22/06: More party = Same Sex Marriage?
From 7/19/06 New York Times article "House GOP Lacks Votes for Amendment Banning Gay Marriage" by Kate Zernike:

"It's had no effect on my marriage," said Representative Jim McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts, "except we get invited to more weddings."

07/20/06: Middle East & Same Sex Marriage
From 7/19/06 New York Times article "House GOP Lacks Votes for Amendment Banning Gay Marriage" by Kate Zernike:

Another Georgia Republican, Representative Phil Gingrey, said support for traditional marriage "is perhaps the best message we can give to the Middle East and all the trouble they're having over there right now." [Israel and Hezbollah are fighting, Lebanon's infrastructure is being bombed, and Israeli and Lebanese civilians are being killed and maimed]

"Hi and thanks for the deliveri. I got it To-day. The T-Shirts are asome. I carried the "Censor Religion" t-shirt today in my religion class, the resulted was an hell of a discusion.Rock on! Sebastian"

07/07/06: Ken Lay RIP #3
"The company is fundamentally sound. The balance sheet is strong. Our financial liquidity has never been stronger. And we again have record operating and financial results."- Kenneth Lay, former Enron CEO

07/06/06: Ken Lay RIP #2
"I take full responsibility for what happened at Enron. But saying that, I know in my mind that I did nothing criminal."- Ken Lay, former CEO of Enron

07/05/06: Ken Lay RIP #1
"My personal belief is that Enron stock is an incredible bargain at current prices, and we will look back a couple of years from now and see the great opportunity that we currently have..."- Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron

06/28/06: Burning Constitution or Burning Flag?
Yesterday, the US Senate stopped an Amendment to the US Constitution from being sent to the states for ratification by one vote. Here in California, our 2 Senators, both Democrats, split- Barbara Boxer voted no, Diane Feinstein voted yes (and was a co-sponsor of the Amendment in the Senate). According to the San Francisco Chronicle's Washington Bureau, this is what they had to say about the vote and the flag-burning issue:

Feinstein, who flies the U.S. flag over her San Francisco and Washington homes, has been an outspoken advocate of a flag desecration amendment since the U.S. Supreme Court, ruling in two 5-4 votes in 1989 and 1990, found that federal and state laws banning flag burning and other acts of desecration were unconstitutional infringements of free speech... "Freedom of speech enshrined in the First Amendment is the cornerstone of our great nation," she said. "But any thought expressed in the burning of the flag can be expressed equally well in another manner."

... Boxer said she also found flag desecration repugnant but still opposed the amendment. "There are many things in life that we find offensive, repugnant to beliefs that we hold dear," she said. "But we cannot amend the Constitution every time there is something we consider outrageous, offensive or repugnant."

05/28/06: Favorite Enron Quote #53786
"It sends such a huge message to the white collar workers, to the executives. Maybe it'll bring back some humanity back to corporate America."- Lois Black, who lost her job and $150,000 in retirement savings when Enron went under, about this week's convictions of Enron head honchos Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling. From KHOU TV, Houston TX.

05/25/06: More Knights Notes...
"i know you are probably really sick of this crap. i just read about it and i am sick of it too. i had to respond to this poor girl. really bad case of the "more vegan then thou, more punk then thou, etc" syndrome. it's really sad. so, below is a letter i wrote her if you could please forward it to her or post it or something that would be great. thanks alot and i hope to see you in madison, wi again sometime.

Oh my dear Ra, I used to sound like you. I had a really long letter in mind but I will keep it as short as possible because I just think this is all so silly. How can I put this? If someone believes in a peaceful existence and is not harming anyone why do you care what his religion of choice is? If I want to believe my little rubber monkey created the world 35 years ago I can. Even if there are a million other people that worship rubber monkey and also enjoy raping babies that does not mean I do so leave me alone. Understand?

There are good people and bad people in every walk of life, every religion, every belief system, and you my dear, are the discriminating one this time around. Yeah yeah yeah we all know how many evil Christians there are and how they are anti woman, anti animal, bla bla bla. You are anti Christian. What is the difference?

I have news for you, science has not yet removed it's head from it's ass so I would not have to much "blind faith" in that either. I'm sure some day it will probably prove itself correct but I don't know that for a fact and either do you, or AT, or the organized religions, or anyone else. Stop worrying about it. Take all that balled up anger and desire to argue and focus it somewhere useful. You are the same as the PMRC and others that don't want the "anti-American" bands on other labels or in their stores. Chill the fuck out. Oh yeah, I know a good amount of vegan Christians and meat loving atheists. I don't really see the connection.

Vincent P.- also a non-Christian vegan, but without all that insane anger about nothing."

05/24/06: The Canadian and The Knights!
"I see that there are a lot of people getting down on the Knights Of The New Crusade. I am not a christian, nor do I belong to any organized(or unorganized) religion. I also haven't heard any of their music yet either. I feel that this gives me a certain degree of objectivity on the subject. Some people are saying that they're going to boycott AT because thay are carrying KOTNC now. What is wrong with you people?! Jello doesn't seem to care and it's HIS record label, so why should any of you care? If you don't like them don't listen to them.

There's also a lot of rhetoric floating around too, one example being this "Ra" fellow claiming that "the bible is evil". A book is only good or evil through the interpretations of people who read it. It's pretty easy to sit at a computer and anonymously whine about something, instead of going out into the world and trying to make it better through activism, direct action, or whatever. The fact of the matter is that if people keep thinking and speaking in the terms represented on both sides of this argument all that is going to happen is people are going to continue to stay divided and everything that people like us are fighting against will keep getting stronger and more powerful. Ever heard of tolerance? It means that even though you may not agree with someone you still TOLERATE them because they have a right to their thoughts, beliefs, ideas, words, opinions etc.

I am using my real name on this piece(provided the AT staff doesn't have to censor it for some reason) of writing to show that I'm not afraid to voice my opinions and have people know who I am. I'm not going to hide behind the anonymity of the internet as so many others do. That's it for what will hopefully be my first and last letter on AT.

Peace.Denver B., Canada"

05/20/06: Love/Hate & The Knights!
Another AT fan chimes in on the Knights and the Batcasts!

"hey! love the batcast, hate KNIGHTS OF THE NEW CRUSADE. their music is good, their message sucks. i believe in nonviolent freedom of expression and democratic opposition. and i oppose them! i really admire A.T. for carrying their album.peace. michael s."